It was a tale of two games and by the end the Owen Sound Attack escaped Erie with a dramatic win.
Ethan Burroughs was the overtime hero as the Attack survived surrendering a four-goal lead to outlast the Otters 6-5 in Ontario Hockey League action Thursday night at Erie Insurance Arena.
The Attack (20-14-3-1) secured back-to-back wins for the first time since Dec. 1-2, and finished 3-2 over a stretch of five straight road games.
Erie (12-20-1-3) dropped its fifth in a row. The Otters were playing in their first game since the dismissal of B.J. Adams as the team’s head coach.
There was a point in this game when it looked like it was going to be an easy night for the Attack.
Owen Sound jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period.
Colby Barlow got things going with a one-time blast on the power play at 9:26 to put the Attack up 1-0. Barlow extended his goal-scoring streak to six games in the process.
Owen Sound made it 2-0 just 1:23 later, as Matthew Papais deflected a Sam Sedley point shot past Nolan Lalonde.
Servac Petrovsky used a burst of speed to break in alone on goal at 15:00 of the first, putting a shot on net that squeaked past Lalonde to put the Attack up three.
The second period started Owen Sound’s way as well.
Deni Goure notched his 18th of the season, as Barlow picked up his own rebound and then threw a backhand pass towards his teammate in front of the net. Goure was starting at a near empty net and made no mistake, burying the puck 1:27 into the second to make it 4-0 Attack.
No one at the Erie Insurance Arena was anticipating how the game developed from there.
The Otters found their first goal of the game at 6:38 of the second, as Taeo Artichuk skated down the left-wing and then fired a wrist-shot that beat Nick Chenard on the glove side. 4-1.
Five minutes later Sam Alfano was left unmarked in the slot, and one-timed a pass from Liam Gilmartin into the net to cut Owen Sound’s lead to 4-2.
The Attack carried that lead into the third. But the Otters quickly sent a message they weren’t going to go down easy.
After a defensive zone face-off win for the Attack, Malcolm Spence stripped the puck from Sam Sedley near the corner and quickly cut towards the front of the net. The Otters rookie and second overall pick in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection managed to move it onto his forehand and feather a shot past Chenard for Erie’s third unanswered goal. That came just 20 seconds into the third.
What had been brewing since the second period for the Otters came to be at 8:17 in the third.
Nathan Sauder fired a shot from the point that found its way through a hole in Chenard and into the net, electrifying the sparsely filled seats at the Erie Insurance Arena. The Otters had come all the way back from four down to tie the game prior to the midway mark of the third.
That was short-lived though.
Just 1:13 later, Cedrick Guindon curled out from behind the Otters’ net and fired a perfectly placed shot over Lalonde’s shoulder and just under the crossbar. The Attack were back in front, 5-4.
Owen Sound looked like it might manage to hang on from there, but Erie found more heroics late in the third.
With Lalonde on the bench for an extra-attacker, a bouncing puck found its way onto the stick of Carey Terrance a few feet outside the crease, and he fired a quick, low backhand shot past Chenard to tie the game again.
5-5 – this one needed overtime.
And it was the Attack who got it done.
After Kaleb Lawrence surged down the right-wing and fired a backhand shot high over the net, the puck took a strange bounce off the glass and came back towards the slot area.
Burroughs pounced on it and quickly loaded up, sizzling a shot past Lalonde on the blocker side to send the Attack to a 6-5 win.
It wasn’t straightforward, but the Attack improved to 11-0 this season in games they lead after the first period.
Chenard made 29 saves in the win, while Lalonde stopped 36 taking the loss. The Attack outshot the Otters 42-34 while going 1 for 3 on the power play; Erie finished 0 for 5.
Next up for the Attack is a return home on Saturday to host the Guelph Storm.
BONAIUTO MOVES ON
Lorenzo Bonaiuto is moving on from hockey. The 18-year-old has been dealing with post-concussion symptoms and has been unable to play for the Attack this season. He announced the end of his competitive hockey playing career in an emotional social media post this week, saying thanks to his family, all of his coaches – and offering a firm goodbye to the game he loves.
POINT STREAKS EXTENDED
In addition to extending his goal-scoring streak to six-games, Barlow also made it an eight-game point-streak – finishing with a goal and two assists in the win over Erie.
Petrovsky also extended his point streak to five games since returning to the Attack from his stint with his home country Slovakia at the 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship.